Before the Storm
by sabakunokaguya
Summary: Time-Turner fic. Hermione goes back in time to prevent the Second Wizarding War from happening. She deals with lies, betrayal, and love and ultimately must decide between returning to her own time or staying in the past. Just when she thought stopping a war was hard enough she also must decide which man has her heart. UPDATE March 2020: Currently writing more chapters for April.
1. By Myself

**A/N: **This is a Time-Turner fic because I love those and wanted to try writing one myself. I hope you all enjoy it and feel free to leave any constructive criticisms!

The first chapter is short, but the rest will be longer.

This is an M rated story, so keep that in mind. I'll leave a message above any chapter that contains M rated material.

**July 4, 1997**

"He's dead," he said.

"Dumbledore's dead," said another.

They had all just returned from Dumbledore's funeral, and everyone was still in shock over what happened. The wizard they thought would be vital in helping stop Voldemort was gone and no one knew what they were going to do to prevent the Dark Lord from taking over.

"We're in way over our heads," said Ron. "We can't stop Voldemort without him!"

Hermione wasn't sure who Ron was talking to as he paced their common room. Everyone was sitting around in shock at the night's events. Their beloved Headmaster was killed by none other than Severus Snape, a man whom Dumbledore trusted.

What no one knew was that it had to happen. Well, no one except Hermione. Sometime before his death, Dumbledore gave Hermione a mission that until now, she wasn't sure if she would do. Why hadn't he asked Harry or Ron to do it? Why her?

But she knew why. She had no ties to the magical world as they did. Asking either of them to do what Hermione was about to could complicate things more than they already were.

"We can't beat him," he said, "he's just too strong."

This time Ron's voice was barely above a whisper. Hermione looked up at him from her seat, and his expression pained her. She felt just as helpless as he did. With Dumbledore dead and Harry nowhere to be found, it felt like everything was falling apart.

"We'll figure something out," Hermione said wanting to comfort her red-headed friend.

"There's nothing to figure out, Hermione. We're done for."

With that said, Ron retreated to the boy's dormitory with a sullen look on his face. He had given up.

Hermione headed to the girl's side and rested in her bed while thinking about everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

She knew it wasn't possible to stay here if she wanted to save her loved ones, but how could she leave when she knew they would all be facing a war soon? What if things didn't turn out the way she wanted them to? What if instead of making things better, she made them worse? Would she be able to live with herself if more lives were lost than saved because of her decision? How was she going to tell her friends that she was going to leave and might never return? Would her plan even work?

There were too many questions and no way to answer them until she took action and went through with it. Out of fear that they would stop her, or she would chicken out, Hermione decided not to tell anyone that she was leaving. Only one person knew what she was planning as it was him who gave her the idea, without directly telling her to do it of course, and he was dead now. That was the only reason she decided she had to do it. What she was doing was risky, but it could save a lot of people. At least, that's what she told herself. Hermione knew that the only way she could end this was, was to prevent it from happening. She had to use the Time-Turner.

With a deep breath, she packed the last of the things she would need in her small, purple, beaded handbag that had been enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm and snuck out of the girl's dorm and gave the Gryffindor common room one last look before silently leaving.

She soundlessly walked through the halls and headed towards a secret exit only a few students knew about. It was used to sneak in and out of Hogwarts and head to the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade. From there she would Apparate to London, and that's when her plan would begin.

Once she made it to London, she checked to make sure her Time-Turner was still safely placed around her neck. Clutching the small, golden necklace that would ultimately take her to a time utterly unknown to her, she thought about how many times she would need to spin it. One hundred seventy thousand three-hundred seventy-six. That should take her to August 1977.

A time when Voldemort was in power, but Regulus Black and Severus Snape had not yet become Death Eaters, Peter Pettigrew had yet to betray his friends, and the Potters were still alive.

She was only one hundred seventy thousand three-hundred seventy-six spins away from beginning to create a new and better world. A world where Harry wouldn't have to grow up without his parents, Sirius wouldn't be sent to Azkaban for 12 years for something he didn't do. And hopefully, Voldemort no longer existed to destroy the lives of countless others.

Hermione rushed into the nearest pub she could find and pushed her way through a crowd of people. She headed straight for the bathroom, needing privacy to carry out her task.

She was going to head back in time. Looking in the bathroom mirror, she looked at her reflection and frowned at the girl who stared back at her. She had dark circles around her eyes from sleepless nights, and her hair was more unkempt than usual. Her cheeks were gaunt, and her skin was a dull shade of gray. She didn't have the luxury of caring for her appearance while also trying to figure out how to end a war.

How she looked didn't matter. What mattered was getting to 1977 and finding Dumbledore.

With one last glimpse in the mirror, Hermione thought about all the things she needed to accomplish upon her arrival and began to spin the Time-Turner. There was no turning back now.


	2. With You

**A/N: **I want to thank everyone who reviewed and follow this story. It means a lot to me! Sorry that it took over two weeks to update. The next chapter is pretty much finished, so it definitely won't take as long to post.

* * *

**September 8, 1977**

Just as planned, Hermione ended up in the same bathroom in the same little pub in London that she just left in 1997. Now all she just needed to do was find her way to Hogsmeade so that she could get close to Dumbledore and let him know how to defeat the Dark Lord. The task at hand seemed simple enough. Hermione couldn't believe that she was so close to being able to get rid of him once and for all. She only hoped that going back in time wouldn't change her future for the worst.

For years, she stood by and watched as Harry had to deal with the burden of knowing he had to be the one to defeat Voldemort, and she wasn't able to do a thing about it. No matter how many spells she knew or potions she brewed, it never seemed like it was enough. Nothing she did would have made a difference. Except for this. It was as if fate brought her to this moment and she had McGonagall to thank for that.

Receiving the Time-Turner during her third year for something as silly as being able to attend a few extra classes ended up being just the thing that she needed to end the war. Usually, she didn't listen to Harry or Ron when they told her to do something she knew could get her in more trouble than it was worth, but this time she did. They convinced her to keep the Time-Turner after the year had ended and after McGonagall still hadn't mentioned returning it.

This was the first time Hermione felt useful, but it was at the expense of being without those she cared about.

Wiping away the single tear that managed to fall down her cheek, Hermione decided that now wasn't the time to get emotional. She had a task she needed to focus on, and she couldn't get distracted or going back in time would have been for nothing.

While still in the bathroom, Hermione closed her eyes and focused on a worn-out wooden sign that displayed a boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it that hung over the Hog's Head. With a flick of her wand, Hermione left the pub and ended up just outside the very place she had a clear image of in her mind.

It was night time, and the only people that could be seen around were drunk and falling over themselves as they stumbled out of the pub. Hermione pushed her way past a drunk couple and as she entered the small and dust-covered pub and made her way to the bar. She looked up at the figure in front of her and was surprised at who she saw.

It looked like Dumbledore, but at the same time, it didn't.

"Dumbledore?" she asked, not sure if the man behind the bar was him or not.

He had the same long gray hair but was dressed in a completely different manner. He didn't seem as regal as the Dumbledore from her time did. Maybe things changed in the 20 years he had been Headmaster.

The man she believed to be Albus Dumbledore turned around, and she realized she had made a mistake.

"Yeah, and who are you?" There was a roughness to his voice, and he eyed her as if she were someone untrustworthy.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," she muttered under her breath, feeling foolish for her assumption.

Before she knew what was happening, she could feel herself being involuntarily moved. It was as if she were Apparating alongside someone. Hermione closed her eyes tight as the feeling was starting to make her feel nauseous. She only opened them again once she felt like she had stopped moving.

She quickly lifted up her wand and got into a defensive position. There was no way she traveled back in time just for things to end before she could change things for the better.

Hermione frantically looked around the room, not seeing anyone at first. She turned behind her and realized where she was. Dumbledore's office. She turned to her right and then saw Albus Dumbledore himself. She did the best she could to stop the tears that were beginning to form. Just a few hours ago, she was at his funeral, and now there he was standing before her.

Realizing she had been staring at him without saying anything, she put her wand away and cleared her throat.

"Hello, professor. I'm Hermione Granger."

She took a deep breath before continuing. There was no easy way to say that she was from the future and came back in time to prevent Voldemort from winning the war, but she had to try.

Dumbledore continued to look at her, patiently waiting for her to proceed.

"I'm here from 1997, and I came here so that I could help stop the-"

Before she could finish what she was saying, he lifted his hand up as if to signal her to stop talking.

He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "you were allowed to use a Time-Turner?"

Hermione sighed and rummaged through her deceptively large bag, looking for the letter Dumbledore had written for her to give to his past self, hoping that it would explain everything.

"This is for you, professor," she said handing over the letter, hoping he would believe her story.

She anxiously awaited while Dumbledore read the letter, he furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to read through it. Upon finishing it, he looked at Hermione with sadness in his eyes. She figured the letter must go into detail about what was to happen in her time.

"Have you introduced yourself to anyone else Miss Granger?"

"No, just you professor."

"Good. According to this letter, you'll be going by Hermione Smith and will be sorted into Gryffindor."

Dumbledore continued to tell her all the details written in the letter about her new identity in this time.

She hadn't expected to be a student at Hogwarts. She planned to stay wherever the safehouse for the Order was and give them the information they needed to defeat Voldemort before too many lives were lost. Going back in time to be a student was not part of her to-do list.

"Not to be rude, professor, but I don't want to be a student. Couldn't engaging with too many people seriously change the future?"

"By defeating Voldemort, we're already changing the future Miss Granger. Besides, it'll be good for you to have a bit of normalcy while you're here. You can't just hide out."

Hermione shook her head and looked at Dumbledore in disbelief. "No, I can't just attend classes and pretend I'm not here for a greater purpose."

"Please, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, "this is what's best."

Before she had the chance to argue her point again, the door to his office opened and in walked Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, just in time professor," Dumbledore said, "you can show Miss Smith to the Gryffindor common room and get her settled in."

Dumbledore looked at Hermione behind his half-moon spectacles and gave her a quick wink just before McGonagall dragged her out of the room.

Something wasn't right here. The hallway was full of students. Lots of students. She could feel their eyes staring at her as she walked towards the Gryffindor common room with Professor McGonagall who had yet to say a word.

Hermione might have done the math wrong because she definitely wasn't supposed to be at Hogwarts while classes were in session. Her goal was to get there during the summer and spend time with Dumbledore and the other Order members devising a plan on how to defeat Voldemort once and for all.

"Quid Agis," McGonagall said looking back at Hermione to make sure she was paying attention to the password.

"Follow me, dear. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

Hermione was in too much shock to say anything. This wasn't real. There was no way she could be a student and attend classes while a war was going on and she had a lot of information to stop it. But what could she say now? Dumbledore made it clear that he wanted her to be a student for the time being.

She looked around the common room, and nothing seemed different. In twenty years, nothing had changed except for a few of the poster's students hung up. Hermione continued to follow McGonagall up to the girl's dormitory and was surprised to see a bed with neatly folded clothes on it. In front of the bed was a red trunk with the initials H.S. written on it in gold letters. Somehow everything was already set up for her as if Dumbledore knew all along she was going to go back in time. Hermione chuckled to herself. That man seemed to know everything.

"I'll trust you know your way around the castle?" McGonagall asked.

Before Hermione could answer, McGonagall dug through a small green bag and pulled out a sheet of paper and gave it to her. "Here," McGonagall said, "you'll be needing this."

It was a class schedule. Hermione sat on her new bed and stared at it before looking back up at the professor. "Thanks."

"If you need anything, you know what to do."

With that, McGonagall left Hermione alone.

As McGonagall left, Hermione could here students rushing in through the portrait hole.

_Oh great, _Hermione thought, _everyone's back now._

She needed time to process everything that was happening and everyone returning moments after she arrived only added to her stress.

"He had absolutely no idea!"

"Doubt it. He had to be faking it."

"No way, not with the-"

The conversation quickly died out as the girls noticed Hermione sitting on a bed staring down at her list of classes.

"Erm, excuse us, but who are you?" asked a girl with dark red hair and bright green eyes.

_Lily Evans. _The photos Harry had of her didn't do her justice.

Hermione stood up and reached her hand out. "I'm Hermione G-Smith. Hermione Smith."

"Pleasure. I'm Lily Evans, and this is Alice Fortescue."

"Well since you're clearly new here," Lily said, "you should meet everyone. Follow us."

Before Hermione had a chance to refuse, both girls were already leaving the room and heading for the common room. This really wasn't she expected her day to be like.

Hermione spent the next thirty minutes meeting everyone in the common room and trying to remember their names. Some she already knew as they would be future Order members.

The longer she spent in the common room getting to know everyone, the more nervous she got. Hermione knew that at any moment, Remus, Peter, James, and Sirius could walk through the portrait hole and Lily would force her to meet them.

Could she handle seeing Sirius after watching him die just the year before? And What about Peter? Knowing that he would betray his friends and in turn cause one of her best friends so much grief, made her feel sick. Luckily, Remus was neither dead nor someone who betrayed his friends, but she did know of his monthly transformations. Not being able to give him the Wolfsbane potion was going to be hard. Then there was James. Seeing him and talking to him just didn't seem fair when Harry never got the chance to do either.

She knew she had to push away all those thoughts and act as if she never met any of them before or she could blow her cover.

Lily began waving a hand in front of Hermione's face. "Earth to Hermione. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I guess I just spaced out a bit. What did you ask?"

"A few of us are going to dinner, would you like to join us?"

It had been a while since she last ate and with everything going on, she hadn't stopped to think about food.

"Definitely," Hermione said, "food would be great right now."

"Great, you can meet the boys then."

Hermione knew just the boys she was talking about, and that was precisely what she was dreading.

* * *

"So why are you here for your seventh year?"

"Yeah, and where did you go to school before?"

"When did you even get here?"

Lily let out a frustrated sigh before giving Hermione an apologetic look. "Don't all ask her questions at once!"

Hermione gave Lily a small smile to show her appreciation. "It's fine. Those are fairly easy to answer," Hermione said, grateful that Dumbledore already gave her a backstory.

"I wanted to be close to family, I went to Ilvermorny, and just this morning actually."

Peter looked at Hermione with confusion in his eyes. "I didn't even know people could transfer schools."

Hermione shrugged, not really knowing what to say. She knew it was weird that all of a sudden, a new student appeared out of nowhere, but that's just how things were at the present moment.

"As much as I would love to answer another fifty questions, I think I'll head to bed. It's been a long day."

With that said, Hermione promptly got up and headed towards Gryffindor tower. As much as she didn't want to, she had to be ready for class in the morning.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm personally excited for the next chapter since Hermione will be interacting with more of the students.


	3. Somewhere I Belong

**A/N: **Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows!

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**September 9, 1977 (Friday)**

Hermione lay in bed with her eyes closed and her pillow over her face. She was trying to block out the sounds of the other girls talking as all she wanted was a few more moments of peace and quiet before she had to get out of bed and start her first official day of class. The other girls were whispering about some party they were planning for the weekend, and she couldn't believe how carefree they sounded. Didn't they know what was going on just outside the castle walls? Didn't they have other things to worry about besides, who they were going to snog later?

It made Hermione think about the countless times she heard Parvati or Lavender talking about the various boys they were dating, and the thought of those two girls made her feel a slight pang of loneliness. Even though they weren't close friends, they were people she saw almost every day for the last six years.

Throwing the pillow to the side, she sat up and looked around her. She felt even more alone as she recognized no one. They were just people who had no idea about what was to come once they graduated. Hermione took a deep breath before rolling out of bed. It wouldn't do well to dwell on things that hadn't technically happened yet. For all she knew, they would never have to face the pain and loss of having the people you care about murdered for no reason. She really needed to get out of her head and focus on the immediate situation: surviving her first full day in the past.

"Hey, you're finally up," Lily said walking over towards Hermione's bed, "after you get ready, you should come down to breakfast with us."

While Hermione appreciated the

gesture, she didn't want to get too close to the other girls. She already had to leave one set of friends behind, she didn't want to have to do it again.

Before she could refuse Lily's offer, her stomach growled as if it were telling her having breakfast with them wouldn't be the end of the world.

"You guys can head down without me. I'll meet you down there."

Lily shot Alice and Dorcas a worried glance. "Hope to see you down there."

Hermione gave the girls a small smile before pulling out all the things she needed from her trunk and placing them neatly on the bed. She grabbed a few clothes then headed for the showers.

Walking into the bathroom, she put her things on a little shelf before turning the shower on and removing her clothes. She stepped in and let the warm water wash over her. As she shampooed her hair, she thought about the day ahead and all the things she wanted to accomplish.

Besides attending class, she needed to meet with Dumbledore again and make a plan. She wasn't sure what was in the letter, but she had to make sure he had enough information to be able to make a move against Voldemort sooner rather than later.

She decided the best thing would be to write down valuable information and give them to Dumbledore so he could share them with the rest of the Order.

After finishing her shower, she quickly dried off and looked at herself in the mirror. She could see the dark circles starting to form under her eyes. Maybe with any luck, she would start getting a lot more sleep than she had the past few months.

With one final look at her appearance, she finished getting dressed in her school robed and grabbed her class supplies before heading down to the Great Hall. Maybe having breakfast with the girls wouldn't be so bad after all.

As she approached the Gryffindor table, she could see the slight look of surprise on Alice's face at the sight of her walking towards them. She must not have thought she would actually join them before class.

Dorcas waved at Hermione as she approached the table and made room between her and Lily for Hermione to sit. "Glad you could make."

Lily gave Hermione a wide smile as she continued to eat her breakfast.

"I told you guys she would come," Lily said looking at Alice and Dorcas.

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, you were right."

"I'm just glad you seem more relaxed, Hermione," Dorcas said giving her a sympathetic look.

"I'm sure changing schools all of a sudden couldn't have been easy on you," Lily added.

Hermione truly appreciated the concern the girls showed towards her.

Hermione sighed. "Things are just so different, you know?"

It wasn't technically a lie. While she was familiar with Hogwarts, the students and many of the professors were utterly foreign to her.

"Tomorrow you should come to Hogsmeade with us. It'll be fun to get away from the castle for a bit," Dorcas said.

The other two girls nodded in agreement.

"We're not talking no for an answer," Alice added.

Hermione let out a small laugh at Alice's statement. How could she refuse their offer when they clearly wanted her to go?

Hermione looked between the three girls and gave them a small smile. "Sure, I'd love to go."

Alice let out a small squeal of excitement. "It'll be fun. I promise."

The rest of the time they spent in the Great Hall they discussed what classes they were taking for the term, and it seemed that they shared a few together: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration.

"The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is a bit of a mess this year," Lily said.

Dorcas shook her head in disappointment. "Yeah, we're pretty much wasting our time."

Hermione chuckled as she thought about her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher from her second year.

"During my second year, we had this one professor who lied about all these accomplishments he had, and he made a complete fool of himself. It was rather entertaining now that I think about it."

"Professor Poole is certainly entertaining," Lily said, "but you'll see soon enough."

"We better head to class," said Dorcas as she stood up from the table and grabbed her bag, "you don't want to be late for your first day."

* * *

The four girls walked into the brightly lit classroom. Alice and Lily shared the same table and Dorcas motioned for Hermione to sit by her. Hermione would have preferred to sit at one of the empty tables in the very back of the class. Her main goal, while she was forced to be a student, was to be as unseen as possible.

She looked around the classroom and just like with the Gryffindor common room, nothing had changed much. As her eyes continued roaming around the classroom, she settled on Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James. They were standing together in the front of the class, and it was clear that they were planning something as they were all huddled around each other whispering and looking around. It was as if they were making sure that no one was listening.

Hermione chuckled at the sight of the boys as she was reminded of stories Remus and Sirius would tell her, Harry, and Ron about their wild pranks and escapades during their time at Hogwarts.

She smiled to herself and looked away from the group of boys. Class should be starting soon, and she needed to get her things out. As she sat there, idly waiting for class to begin, the thought about how nice it was for things to be normal, even if it was just for a moment.

Looking over at Dorcas, she noticed the girl seemed slightly irritated as she watched the door. It reminded her that the professor hadn't shown up yet and they had been sitting there for at least ten minutes. Maybe he was as bad as the other girls said.

Hermione already didn't want to be in class, she really didn't want to be wasting her time being in a class the professor wasn't going to show up for. She almost wanted to get up and head straight for Dumbledore's office.

As she was about to get up, she heard some noise behind her and assumed the professor finally decided to show up.

"It's nice to see a new face around here, isn't it Avery?"

She felt something lightly hit her head, and she reached up and pulled a balled up piece of parchment out of her hair. Looking behind her at the culprit, she saw someone who was clearly from Slytherin looking at her with a smirk on his face.

He leaned forward. "Hey, what's your name?" The tone of his voice made Hermione feel like he wasn't trying to be friendly.

She sat frozen for a moment at the realization at who was talking to her. Mulciber. One of Voldemort's future followers.

There was no reason to talk to him. She faced forward again and decided it would be best to avoid him.

"Just ignore him, Hermione, that's what we do," Dorcas said rolling her eyes in Mulciber's direction.

Mulciber quickly pulled out his wand and set flame to Hermione's quill. She winced in pain as the fire lightly kissed her skin before she dropped it.

Dorcas and Alice stood up from their seats and pulled their wands out.

Dorcas pointed her wand directly at him. "Back off, Mulciber."

He leaned closer to Hermione, completing ignoring the two girls facing him. "I asked you what your name was."

Lily looked back and forth between her friends and Mulciber, not knowing what to do. She wasn't one for such confrontation. "Enough," she said, "you're foul, Mulciber."

Up until now, his friend, Avery, had been silent. "Yes, Mulciber, leave the poor girl alone."

The four girls looked at him in shock, not expecting him to stand against his friend.

Avery gave Hermione a wink before saying, "we'll have plenty of time to learn all about her later."

Dorcas rolled her eyes before she and Alice sat back down.

Hermione wasn't sure if she felt flattered or disgusted. She chose the latter. Before she could dwell more on the small encounter she had with the future Death Eaters, a very familiar yet unfamiliar face walked into the classroom and sat right in front of her.

"Hey Sev, we got a new girl. I don't think she knows how to talk though," said Mulciber while not so subtly pointing in her direction.

Severus looked back at and gave her a quick once over before turning back around.

"Or maybe she's not interested in you Mulciber."

Avery let out loud laugh at Severus' quick jab at Mulciber. He tried holding in his laughter after Mulciber shot him a quick glance daring him to continue laughing.

The professor hurriedly rushed into the classroom as if he feared being late and sloppily set down the rolls of parchment he was carrying on his desk. Most of them ended up falling off his desk, and he scrambled to pick them back up. He was moving around frantically putting one back on the desk just for another one to fall again.

Dorcas leaned over towards Hermione and whispered. "We told you he was a mess."

Hermione could hear the other students trying and failing to hold back their laughter as the professor picked up the last roll of parchment.

He looked at the class and smoothed out his robes before addressing the class.

"Now class, we will continue with our use of nonverbal defensive spells. Get in groups of two and remember, defensive spells only."

Professor Poole waved his wand over the classroom and made all the tables and chairs disappear to give all the students more room to move around.

Each student paired up and moved to their own part of the classroom and stood in a defensive position.

Hermione, Dorcas, Lily, and Alice stood together in one corner of the classroom away from most of the other students.

"All last year all we focused on were defensive spells. Considering what's out there, shouldn't we focus on the offensive ones?" Alice asked.

Lily clearly felt uncomfortable at the thought of casting a spell that could hurt someone. She took a deep breath before replying. "Isn't the best offense a good defense? Besides we're not trying to fight anyone, just protect ourselves if the time ever comes."

Dorcas looked around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. "Speak for yourself, I can't just sit around doing nothing knowing he's out there."

Hermione had no idea that even at this time, students were worried about Voldemort and his followers. Maybe things between her time and this one weren't so different after all.

"I have to agree with Dorcas and Alice on this one," Hermione said, "defensive spells are important, but it's not the only way to protect ourselves."

Before they could continue their conversation Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James all came walking towards them.

Dorcas crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Oh great, what do these guys want."

Sirius smirked at Dorcus before wrapping an arm around Alice's shoulder.

"Well since you ladies clearly weren't working on your spells, we thought we'd bother you for a bit."

Alice rolled her eyes at Sirius and shrugged his arm off her shoulders.

Although Hermione had met them just the other day, it was still weird to see them. It was strange to see them look so young and carefree as if the world hadn't beaten them down yet. Even Peter didn't seem to be sneaky and conniving as she would know him to be in the future. Maybe with any bit of luck, that side of Peter would never exist.

Lily put a hand on her hip and frowned at the four boys. "What are you four up to now?"

James smiled at Lily before looking at his three friends. "Now Lily, what makes you think we're up to something?"

"Oh please, Potter. You lot are always up to something," Mary said.

Remus let out a long sigh. "Actually, we were just going to ask if you girls wanted to go with us to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

The four girls looked at each other before looking back at the four boys standing in front of them. Based on the stories Remus and Sirius told her about their Hogwarts days, she knew they probably had ulterior motives for asking them to go to Hogsmeade with them. Not only that, but Peter seemed to be avoiding contact with everyone. He was looking around the classroom as if he were nervous about something. But nervous about what?

Hermione was ready for the awkward tension to be over with. "Fine, sure. We were planning on going anyways."

Sirius patted Peter on the back while Remus gave the girls an apologetic look. It was as if he already felt guilty for what was about to happen.

As the four boys were walking back to their spot in the classroom, James looked over his shoulder and winked at Lily before turning back around and laughing at whatever silly joke Sirius just told.

"When are you going to give the poor boy a chance Lils?" Dorcas asked.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Maybe if he grows up a bit."

"Now back to the actual topic, defensive versus offensive spells," Alice said.

Before either of the three girls could answer, someone, cleared their throat behind them clearly trying to gain their attention.

"I haven't seen you girls do anything all class except talk. Let me see you do some magic before I take off twenty house points each," said Professor Poole clearly annoyed with the four girls.

The four girls muttered their apologies before getting into a dueling position. Hermione took a defensive stance against Dorcas while Lily and Alice faced each other.

Hermione made the first move, trying to disarm Dorcas, but Dorcas was faster and was able to block the spell with a wave of her wand. Not hesitating for a moment, Dorcas cast the Impediment Curse, causing Hermione to slow down for a few seconds.

Lily and Alice looked back and forth between the two girls wondering who was going to end up the winner. For the moment, it seemed like Dorcas was just too fast for Hermione.

Dorcas didn't want to wait for the Impediment curse wore off before casting the next spell. She cast the Disarming spell, but Hermione unfroze just in time to be able to dodge it. Hermione then cast the Revulsion Jinx. The wand in Dorcas's hand immediately dropped, and Hermione took advantage of the situation and cast the Impediment Curse to slow her down.

Before Hermione could cast another spell, Professor Poole intervened.

"Well done girls, great wand work," he said.

"However, next time I catch you all slacking off, I'll take points away with no warning. You should know better Miss Evans since you are Head Girl."

Professor Poole walked back to the front of the class complimented students along the way.

"Ok class, listen up, next week you're all in for a real treat. Make sure you get lots of studying in over the weekend."

After Professor Poole dismissed the class, everyone gathered their things and headed out.

Dorcas walked up to Hermione and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "You're pretty good."

Hermione had enough practice dueling during her fifth year when she and her friends snuck around meeting up in the Room of Requirements.

"I guess I had a good teacher," she said as they continued to walk together.

Hermione knew that she didn't have time to play nice and shrugged Dorcas' arm off her shoulder. She hadn't made her list yet for Dumbledore, but there was no time like the present to visit him. There was no way she was going to spend another moment wasting time.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you later."

Before Dorcas could reply, Hermione was already halfway down the corridor, hurriedly walking towards Dumbledore's office.

The only thing that mattered right now was destroying Voldemort.


	4. Nobody's Listening

**A/N: **Sorry for such a long delay in updating! With the end of the school year and going out of the country for a few weeks, I got really busy and didn't have a lot of time to write. But now I'm back and have a lot more time to update more frequently.

* * *

**September 12, 1977 (Monday)**

Not only didn't she go to Hogsmeade over the weekend, which was causing a bit of tension between her and a few of the other girls, but she also had to deal with the death of five innocent people.

They were dead. She warned them this would happen. She told them exactly what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, and how it was going to happen. She gave them all the information they needed to avoid this situation, and what did they do? They ignored her warning. They didn't believe her. They pretty much laughed in her face and called her a liar. And now what? Others suffered for it. This isn't one of those times where she wanted to brag and tell them how right she was and how wrong they were. On the contrary, this isn't something she wanted to be right about.

Hermione should have known that not even Dumbledore took her seriously when he didn't also invite the whole Order to hear her out. Part of her felt like he didn't fully buy into her coming from the future and really having information that could help them take down Voldemort before too many lives were lost. She could only hope that after this tragedy, people would believe the information she shared with them, or she would just have to take matters into her own hands.

It took everything she had not to demand that they listen to her and take action, but unfortunately, it took death to make them listen. Shortly after the Muggle neighborhood was attacked and five innocent people were killed, Dumbledore called her into his office, and she was greeted by forlorn expressions and mumbled apologies. She wanted to badly to walk out, but she knew her pride wasn't worth the many other lives that could be saved now that the Order believed her story.

On Friday she warned Dumbledore and the rest of the Order members, on Saturday innocent people died, and on Sunday they all came up with a plan. It wasn't the ultimate plan that would take down Voldemort, but it was a start.

It was that very plan that Hermione was thinking about as she sat in the back of Potions class. She was barely paying attention to the assignment as she went over everything that was discussed just the day before. Hermione knew that she might have to do things she might not be prepared for, but what was asked of her made her feel very uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if she could do it, and if she did, could she pull it off?

"I don't think it's supposed to overflow like that."

The voice that came from beside her broke her out of her thoughts, and she noticed a thick, dark green liquid oozing out from her cauldron and onto the table. Her parchment and quill were covered in the thick liquid, and she could hear a few of her classmates trying to hold back their laughter.

Hermione looked up and saw Dorcas and Lily giving her a sympathetic look before going back to their own cauldrons. Luckily, the class was just about over, and it was time for the plan to be set in motion.

As she gathered her things, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dorcas, Lily, and Alice approaching her. She really didn't have time for this. She really needed to focus on her primary mission, not worry about hurting their feelings because she didn't go to Hogsmeade with them.

"So how was your weekend?" Dorcas asked, being the first one to break the silence.

_Well I told the Order that five Muggles would be attacked, and no one believed me so now they're dead,_ Hermione thought. Of course, she couldn't say that.

"Busy, sorry I couldn't make it to Hogsmeade." Hermione turned away from the three girls with the intention of heading to the library.

"Told you she didn't want to be bothered with us," she heard Alice whisper.

Hermione could tell that Alice was more than annoyed but also hurt by her lack of enthusiasm at being their friend. She almost turned back around said they should all go to the Great Hall together for lunch. Almost. She couldn't let herself get attached to people who she may or may not be able to save. People who she knew might die if things didn't go according to plan.

Without looking back, Hermione headed out of the classroom and to the library. Before she could start the plan, she needed some peace and quiet to figure out exactly how she was going to pull it off.

Once she arrived at the library, she sat at a table in the corner away from other students. She pulled out a parchment and quill and thought of the different ways to succeed in a plan she didn't fully support.

Hermione couldn't believe that Dumbledore and even some of the Order members thought she should attempt to get close to a few of the Slytherins as a way to earn their trust and ultimately learn secrets about Voldemort. The plan seemed too hopeful. Would a bunch of Slytherins really trust a Gryffindor with secret information about the Dark Lord?

How was she even supposed to get close to any of them? They didn't seem like the friendliest of people. At least not the ones she knew from her own time.

She stared at the blank page parchment in front of her waiting for the ideas to start pouring in. Although Dumbledore and a few others suggested she attempt to get close to a few of the Slytherins, they didn't suggest how. That she had to figure out on her own.

Maybe she could go sit at their table one day and introduce herself? Surely, not all of them could hate Gryffindors, and it's not like any of them knew she was a Muggle-Born witch. She slightly chuckled at that idea and tried to think of another one.

Maybe she could befriend one of them during class? She could always partner up with one of them for one of the next assignments and possibly from there, perhaps she would be able to gather some information. At this point, that was the best option she had come up with. Hermione leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Hermione asked herself.

She thought of all the Slytherins she met so far in her classes and immediately knew none of them would be good to approach. The one she would feel somewhat comfortable taking to was Severus and that's just because he would end up being her Potions professor one day. Yet even he wasn't too friendly and wasn't sure how to even approach him.

There had to be another way.

She opened her eyes and leaned forward in her chair. If she couldn't ask any of her classmates about Voldemort, who could she talk to?

As she struggled to think of who she could approach, something caught her attention.

She heard two voices coming from behind her. It sounded like they were talking about the recent incident in the Muggle town. It wasn't something that was reported on in the Daily Prophet, so how would they know about that unless they were in the Order, or they were Death Eaters. Currently, Dumbledore wasn't allowing any students to join the Order for safety reasons, which could only mean one thing, Death Eaters.

Hermione was surprised that anyone would even be in the library at this time seeing as it was after dinner, and no one tended to come this late in the evening. She preferred it that way so that she wouldn't be disturbed, however, right now she would gladly welcome the company of anyone who could help her get close to Voldemort.

The two voices continued getting closer and eventually passed her table and sat two tables in front of hers.

If she wasn't mistaken, it was Regulus Black and Severus Snape. While she already ruled out taking to Severus, Regulus had never crossed her mind.

Would she be able to extract information from him without him getting suspicious?

She remembered the way Sirius would speak about him. He always made it seem like he was a stupid kid that got caught up in something he had no idea about, and when he tried to escape, he died in the process.

It didn't sound like he was fully supportive of Voldemort's ways once he learned more about him.

At that moment, Hermione decided that Regulus would be the perfect person to try and get information from. All she needed was a reason to talk to him and to catch him when he wasn't with anyone else. If she remembered correctly, he got the Dark Mark the summer before his sixth year. Which means he should have it now. Maybe she could use that information to her advantage.

She hoped for a moment when Severus would get up from the table for a moment so she could talk to Regulus. Hermione still hadn't thought of a reason for needing to speak with him, but she hoped when her chance came, she would have it figured out.

Not wanting to catch their attention, Hermione averted her gaze from the two Slytherins sitting in front of her.

She pretended to work on an assignment while hoping Severus would get up soon and give her an opening.

While waiting for Severus to leave Regulus alone for a moment, Hermione imagined all the ways this could go wrong. He could see right through her, and she could be targeted by other Death Eaters as someone trying to gain intel. That idea caused her to close her eyes for a moment and shake that thought out of her mind.

Ignoring the rest of the bleak thoughts attempting to fill her mind, Hermione once again focused on Regulus and Severus. It seemed like they would be here for a while as they had taken out their school books and were now sitting in silence as they worked on their assignments.

She must have been looking at them longer than she realized because Severus turned towards her and gave her a confused expression. Hermione quickly averted her guys and went back to pretending to work on her own class assignment.

She heard the sound of chairs scraping across the floor and looked up once more to notice Regulus walking towards her.

Well, she wanted to get him alone even if this wasn't the ideal way.

Regulus walked up to Hermione and crossed his arms while staring at her, waiting for some kind of explanation.

"Do you always make it a point to stare at people?" he asked, realizing she wasn't going to say anything.

Hermione searched her mind for something to say. Anything that would turn the situation in her favor.

"I overheard you two talking about the five Muggles that were killed."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well there's only a few people who would actually know about that, and I'm assuming you're not part of the Order."

"And I know you're not a Death Eater, so again, why were you staring at us?"

"I'm not part of the Order if that's what you're thinking," she said still trying to figure out how to get him to trust her, "I just overheard some of the Gryffindors talking about it." That was a lie.

"I'm interested in finding out more about what happened that night." Also, a lie.

He looked at her, trying to figure out what she really wanted, not fully trusting what she was saying.

"Why?" he asked.

Before answering, Hermione looked around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. She definitely didn't want the wrong people hearing what she was about to say.

"I haven't picked a side yet, and I'm kind of interested in learning more about this Dark Lord I hear so many people whispering about."

Hermione could tell that Regulus was carefully thinking about what she said, and she only hoped that she hadn't already messed up the plan of getting close to someone who could provide intel on Voldemort.

Before Regulus had a chance to respond, Severus came up next to him and gave Regulus a look that must have meant it was time for them to leave.

* * *

**September 13, 1977 (Tuesday)**

After her small interaction with Regulus the other day, Hermione was even more determined to talk to him. She figured, if he wasn't going to share any information with her, he wouldn't have spoken to her as long as he did. Maybe if Severus hadn't shown up, she'd be a bit closer to what she needed to know.

Hermione spent the day in class and looking searching the halls for Regulus. She had hoped to bump into him before she decided to retire back to Gryffindor tower for the night, but she had no such luck.

It was already time for dinner, and she still hadn't seen him. She thought back to her earlier idea of just going to eat with the Slytherins. Things couldn't turn out that bad if she did that, could it?

Regardless of the outcome, she decided if that was the only way to talk to Regulus, then that's what she'd do.

Fully convinced that she was doing the right thing, she decided to head straight to the Great Hall, walk up to the Slytherin table and sit next to Regulus.

She took a deep breath and headed straight to the Great Hall so that she could follow through with her plan.

Hermione walked past the Gryffindor table and could feel Dorcas, Lily, and Alice stare at her as she kept on walking. She thought she saw one of them wave at her out of the corner of her eye but couldn't be bothered with pleasantries at the moment. She had to focus on the task at hand.

As she got closer to the Slytherin table, she scanned their table for Regulus and saw him sitting near the very end. She made her way towards him and squeezed herself, in-between him and another Slytherin.

The table went silent, and they all stared at her for a moment before resuming their meals.

"We didn't get to finish our conversation yesterday," she said, fixing a plate for herself.

"This really isn't the place to have that kind of conversation."

Hermione could feel Severus looking at her and had to stop herself from looking back. Regulus must have meant that they shouldn't have this conversation around him.

She nodded her head in agreement and continued to eat while they sat in silence.

When Severus went on to focus on someone else, Regulus leaned over towards her and whispered.

"I'll meet you in the library tomorrow."

Maybe this would be easier than she thought. It seemed like Regulus was the right target, after all. Hermione only hoped that he wouldn't suspect what she was up to.

They ate the remainder of their food in silence. Every once in a while, Hermione noticed Severus glance over in her direction, and she could only assume that he didn't trust her intentions of wanting to talk to Regulus.

Hermione finished the last bite of her food before saying her goodbyes to Regulus and heading back to the common room.

Just as she made her way through the portrait hole, she could hear people talking about her.

"Maybe she belongs in Slytherin."

"Maybe she just has a thing for bad boys."

"She is kind of weird."

"She never talks to any of –"

Everyone stopped talking as they saw her walk through the common room and up to the girl's dormitory. All eyes were on her, waiting for her to say something, but she didn't care what they thought of her. If a few people didn't like her because she was doing what needed to be done to save their lives, then so be it. At least they would be alive.

The only thing she cared about at the moment was getting some rest because she had a feeling tomorrow would be a very eventful and tiring day.


	5. A Place For My Head

**September 14, 1977 (Wednesday)  
**

* * *

Hermione knew she wasn't on the best of terms with everyone in Gryffindor tower, but people seemed a bit colder towards her than usual.

While she often ate alone during meal times, preferring to grab a small plate of food and sneak it into the library, sometimes she did walk to class with Dorcas, Lily, and Alice and as they made idle chit chat before splitting up and sitting at their own tables.

However, this day was different. She didn't wake up to find the three girls waiting for her so that they could walk to class together. That should have been the first clue that something was different, but Hermione figured they were in a rush to get to class and she usually preferred to be left alone anyways. Maybe they were even still upset that she missed out on going to Hogsmeade with them last weekend.

The next clue was that when she did get to class, the girls and the Marauders looked in her direction, whispered amongst themselves, then went back to whatever it was they were doing.

Despite this, Hermione still wasn't sure if something was up with them. Maybe a little off, but definitely nothing to worry about.

There was one last and final clue that made her realize that she was definitely not welcome at the Gryffindor table anymore. When she decided to have dinner later that evening, Dorcas, Lily, Alice, James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus coincidentally finished their food at the same time, left, and didn't so much as say hello or goodbye when they saw her. Even a few of the other Gryffindors gave her weird looks before returning back to their food. It was as if she wasn't welcome at her own table.

Hermione remembered that when she arrived back to the common room the previous night, a few of them were whispering about her, but she didn't have time to worry about such silly things.

However, while she might not have been trying to become best friends with anyone, she wasn't trying to make enemies with them either.

She could hear people around her whispering as they gave her dirty looks. Were they really that bothered by her eating at the Slytherin table the other day?

Not wanting to deal with the embarrassment of having those around her talking about her, Hermione took a deep breath before standing up and grabbing an apple off the table before retreating to the one place she felt at peace, the library.

She intended on sitting at her favorite table hidden away from others just as she usually did, but this time, it was different. This time she wasn't alone.

"What are you doing here, Regulus?" she asked, shocked to see him here, "I thought I wouldn't see you until later."

He continued to work on whatever assignment he was focused on and didn't look up at her as he responded.

"You said you were interested in the Dark Lord," he said, "and that's not something I expected from a Gryffindor, and I didn't want to wait any longer."

_So, he believed me, _she thought. At that moment, she knew she had to keep up with the pretense that she actually wanted to join his cause.

"Why me? Why not go talk to someone else about this?" he asked, finally turning around to face her.

To be honest, her first choice was Severus, but he seemed colder and more distant than Regulus. Hermione didn't believe for one moment that he would tell her anything or share any kind of information with her.

"I saw you already had the Dark Mark. I haven't noticed it on anyone else."

She hoped he wouldn't ask how she knew that.

He smirked as she said that and slowly rolled up his sleeve.

"Is this what you want?" he asked.

She wasn't sure how to answer. Of course, she didn't want to be branded with a mark that stood for the Dark Lord. A mark that stood for the annihilation of innocent people just because they weren't born into a pure-blood family.

But she couldn't say that. No. She had to want that mark. Dumbledore told her that she needed to do everything she could to figure out what Voldemort was planning right now. While she already passed on a lot of information that she gathered from her time, there was still a lot left to be known.

Hermione stared at his mark for a moment longer before looking back up at Regulus and replying.

"What I want is to learn more about the war to come."

Hermione figured as long as she stuck close to the truth, it would be harder to get caught in a lie.

"Why?"

She could tell he didn't fully trust her. He had no reason to.

"Like I said before, I'd like to know everything I can before picking a side, and if you haven't noticed, I haven't really been getting along well with the other Gryffindors."

Regulus, noticing Hermione was still standing, gestured for her to sit across from him at the table.

"The Dark Lord wants a better world for us. Right now, we have to hide who we are from muggles even though they're weaker than us. They have all the power, and we're powerless."

His voice was barely above a whisper as he didn't want anyone else listening in their conversation. Hermione looked at the serious expression on Regulus' face and knew that he wholeheartedly believed that he was fighting on the right side.

The idea of not having to hide their magic seemed great but having to kill innocent people wasn't worth it. How did living in peace with muggles have anything to do with killing muggle-borns and muggles? She just couldn't understand how anyone that had any kind of compassion could follow Voldemort. She knew that he would eventually defect but would then die for it. Maybe he could also be one of the lives she saved.

Hermione leaned forward across the table so that her next words would only be heard by Regulus.

She gave Regulus a small smile. "Now that's what I want."

Sitting back in her chair, Hermione looked at Regulus's face trying to figure out what he was thinking. She knew it wouldn't be easy to get information about Voldemort, but right now, this was her only plan.

"You need to prove you're on our side then."

With those words, Hermione knew she was in. She knew that it was only a matter of time before all of Voldemort's plans were told to her.

"How?"

"Should be easy since you're a Gryffindor. Find out which students are planning on joining the Order then share it with me."

Hermione almost laughed but tried to hide it.

"Did you forget about the part where the other Gryffindors don't like me?"

"I'm sure you can figure something out."

Before Hermione had time to think of a response, Regulus was already packing up his things and getting up from the table.

"Don't reach out to me again unless you have information to share."

Hermione didn't think what he was asking was hard since she already knew a few people who would become members, but she couldn't remember all of them. She only saw a picture of the original Order members once, and it was a few years ago.

It looked like she was going to have to make friends with them after all. She needed to spend the next day figuring out how she was going to do that all that because right now, things weren't looking too good.

* * *

**September 16, 1977 (Friday)**

"You guys want to head to breakfast together?" Hermione asked Dorcas, Lily, and Alice, afraid of what they might say. Ever since she arrived just a few days ago, her relationship with the other three Gryffindor girls had seen its ups and downs.

The three girls looked at each other, and Hermione knew they were going to say no.

"Sure."

Of course, out of the three girls, Lily was the one to respond. She gave her a small smile, and they headed through the portrait hole together.

They walked in an uncomfortable silence all the way to the Great Hall. For a while, as they ate, no one said a word. Hermione decided it would be up to her to break the silence.

"So, do you have any plans for the –"

"Why are you talking to us all of a sudden?" Dorcas asked, clearly not ready to accept Hermione back into their group of friends.

Before Hermione could answer, Alice, let out a small laugh and said, "yeah, one moment it seems like we could all be friends, then you completely ignore us, you go sit with the Slytherins and now you're back with us?"

She didn't know how to respond to that. They were right. She pretty much blew them off, and now she was trying to play nice. She didn't think it would be easy, but she had to try.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was just having a hard time adjusting, and I just needed to talk to Severus about the potions assignment since we're partners."

As soon as those words left her mouth, she knew she made a mistake. How was she going to convince Severus to be her potions partner when they never even spoke to each other? She guessed that was a problem for another day.

The three girls looked at each other as if they wanted to believe Hermione, but at the same time, they didn't want to forgive so easily.

"How about we all go to The Three Broomsticks this weekend, and you guys order whatever you want, on me?"

Alice bit her lip as if to stop herself from saying something and looked at Lily as if waiting to see how she would respond. However, it was Dorcas who finally broke the silence.

"Ok, we'll take you up on your offer," said Dorcas, "but I won't forgive again if you ditch us."

Hermione let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Dorcas, Lily, and Alice. She was grateful to have been given another chance. They didn't realize just how much she needed it.

"You won't regret it."

"I don't know," said Lily, "James and I were going to Hogsmeade together tomorrow."

Dorcas and Alice both looked at Lily with surprised expressions.

"Since when are you two on friendly terms?" Alice asked.

Lily blushed before shaking her head. She refused to make eye contact with any of the girls as she spoke.

"He wouldn't stop asking, and I thought it'd be easier if I just agreed for once."

Hermione, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to find out about which students were planning on joining the Order, chimed in before the other two girls could change their mind about joining her at The Three Broomsticks.

"Why don't we all go together?"

Lily thought over what Hermione said, before nodding her head in agreement.

"Well, I'm sure James won't mind."

* * *

**September 17, 1977 (Saturday)**

Hermione woke up before everyone else. Her stomach was in knots as if she were preparing for her first date. The idea of spending time with people who initially never meant to interact much with was starting to make her feel nervous.

Mainly, the idea of spending time with Lily and James almost made her feel guilty. She had already spent more time talking with Lily than Harry ever did, and now she might also get the chance to spend time with his dad.

Not only this, but she was feeling nervous about how things were going to go between her and the other girls. She knew she wouldn't be able to just start asking questions about the Order just after talking with Regulus or else it would seem suspicious, and they definitely wouldn't tell her the information she needed.

Hermione grabbed a few of her clothes from the drawer beside her bed and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. She thought about what the perfect day would be like.

_Go to Hogsmeade with Dorcas, Lily, Alice, and James. Make idle chit-chat. Apologize again, if necessary. Casually bring up the Order. Ask who's interested. Give the information to Regulus later._

She repeated that scenario to herself over and over again, and she finished up shower.

When she stepped out and looked in the mirror, she ran her fingers through her short, curly hair and tried to tame the frizz that was beginning to form. Hermione hadn't put much of a focus on her appearance since she arrived a few days ago but thought today might be a good day to change that. At least for the day.

Hermione decided to braid her hair and pull it to the side so that it hung just below her collar bone. She put on a pair of fitted, dark blue jeans, and a light-pink, short sleeved top. After taking one last glance in the mirror, she headed back to the girl's dormitory and grabbed her shoes before going to the common room to wait for the other three girls.

She lied down on the couch, rested her arms behind her head, and closed her eyes. She wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasted. Which didn't turn out to be very long. She could hear a few people walking out towards the common room from the boy's dormitory but decided to keep her eyes closed and hope they headed out soon.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

Still not opening her eyes to see who was talking to her, she felt someone slightly move her legs over so that they could join her on the couch.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to see who the intruder was. James Potter.

Hermione gave him a small smile. "Good morning."

"Glad you're finally joining us for some fun," he said, "Sirius and I had a little bet to see if you would actually come today."

James leaned in close to Hermione and whispered in her ear.

"I won the bet."

As if on cue, Sirius walked into the common room and sat on the table in front of Hermione and James. He shook his head, causing small drops of water to hit both James and Hermione.

James got up and jokingly hit Sirius. "Hey! Watch it."

Sirius smirked at James as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"You didn't win the bet, James."

James pointed to the couch where Hermione lay, trying to ignore the two boys standing in front of her. "Do you see Hermione sitting there?"

Sirius looked over and nodded reluctantly.

"And do you think she's up this early just for fun?"

Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. "Maybe."

James sat back down on the couch and casually stretched his arm back behind Hermione's neck.

She slightly moved over, feeling uncomfortable at the sudden contact.

"You are going to Hogsmeade with us, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"See, Sirius? You lost, and I won. You're just mad because you don't want to hold up your end of the deal."

Sirius, who had been quiet for a while, just slowly shook his head at James as he collapsed into the chair next to the couch.

"What was the bet?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Sirius has to-"

While James' mouth was still moving, no words could be heard. He looked over at Sirius and saw him trying to hold back laughter. He cast a silencing spell at him.

Before Sirius could enjoy James struggling to speak any more, the spell was broken. Both boys looked up to see Remus and Peter walking towards them.

Remus, who was putting his wand away, looked at his two friends in disbelief.

"Isn't it just a bit too early to cause trouble already?"

Peter yawned while shaking his head in agreement.

"It looks like everyone's here!" said Alice as Dorcas and Lily trailed behind her. They were obviously still tired as they sluggishly walked towards the rest of the group.

"How is she always so cheerful in the morning?" Lily asked Dorcas as they both took a seat next to Hermione on the couch, "It's just not natural."

Hermione looked around the common room and felt anxiety wash over here. She realized that she went from barely talking to anyone to getting ready to spend the day with seven other people.

She didn't want to dwell on that too much and put everyone else in a foul mood. She stood up from the couch and with everyone else, headed out the portrait hole and made her way to The Three Broomsticks.

* * *

**A/N:** I was planning on having the full Hogsmeade get together in this chapter, but I'm trying to keep chapters under 3,000 words based on what I like to read. However, if you want longer chapters just let me know!

Thanks for reading!


	6. Hands Held High

**September 17, 1977**

Hermione sat back in her chair and looked around the large table and couldn't help but think this might be the right time to ask about the Order. To her left, she saw James whispering in Lily's ear, causing a light blush to form on her cheeks. Lily gave James a small smile, and Hermione knew that Lily was slowly falling for the boy she once found annoying and immature.

Sitting across from James and Lily was Sirius and Dorcas. They also seemed to be having their own whispered conversation, yet this one had a different tone. While Sirius had a dark expression on his face, Dorcas had a look of triumph, as if she had won something. Hermione wasn't sure what they were talking about but didn't think much of it.

Next to them was Remus and Peter. They were both focused on their game of Exploding Snap.

That left Alice, who was sitting directly in front of her. Alice, who was usually full of energy, was sitting at the table quietly with a small frown on her face. Every once in a while, she would look over at James and Lily and shake her head as if she disapproved of their budding relationship.

Hermione leaned forward in her chair and waved her hand in front of Alice's face to get her attention. "Is everything alright?"

Alice gave her a small smile and nodded her head. "I'm fine. Just lots on my mind."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

At first, it seemed that Alice was going to brush her off and go back to sitting in silence, but after a moment of hesitation, Alice gave in. She quickly looked around the table and leaned in closer to Hermione so that no one would hear her. "Well, it's about the war," Alice said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hermione opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. She was surprised that at a time like this, Alice had war on her mind. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, yet Alice was focused on something she had no control over. Besides the one day during Defense Against the Dark Arts, she never mentioned the war. No one did. It was almost as if It wasn't real.

She wanted to tell Alice that everything would be fine and that she and Frank would get married and have a son, but she couldn't. And if she could, did it matter? In four short years, she and Frank would be placed in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. There was nothing fine about that.

What was the appropriate thing to say? Everything will be ok? Nothing to worry about? In times like these, lies seemed to make people feel better even when they know they're being lied to.

Alice sat back in her chair and laughed a little as if trying to make light of a serious situation.

"There's no point in thinking about that though, right?"

Hermione could tell she didn't really mean that.

"It's ok to be scared, Alice. I know I am."

Alice glanced over at James and Lily again, and the worried look on her face returned.

"Don't approve of them?"

"The idea of being happy at a time like this just seems pointless."

Wasn't she with Frank? Weren't they going to be married soon?

"What about you and Frank?" Hermione asked, confused at Alice's disapproval.

"We're fine but, I've been thinking of ending things," Alice said, "if I join the Order after graduation, I don't want him to worry about me if we're still together."

"Leaving him won't make him worry about you less. If anything, he'll worry even more."

Before Alice could retort, the sound of glass shattering broke her train of thought. They looked over at the cause of the sound and saw Sirius and Dorcas cleaning up the mess before Dorcas stormed off leaving Sirius looking not only angry but hurt.

Hermione started getting out of her seat, prepared to follow Dorcas, but stopped when she noticed Alice and Lily were still seated. "Shouldn't we see if she's ok?" she asked.

"It's best to leave her alone when she's upset. Trust me."

As if nothing happened, Lily returned to her conversation with James and Remus and Peter finished up their game of Exploding Snap.

Sirius remained seated for a moment longer before deciding to get up and leave the small pub. Hermione's eyes followed him as he left, and she couldn't help but wonder what was going on between those two.

"What are you doing after graduation?" Alice asked.

Hermione was caught off guard by her question and didn't know how to respond right away. It was something she thought of quite often before it became clear that the only thing she should be focusing on, was stopping Voldemort.

"I was thinking of joining the Order," Alice said, not waiting for Hermione's response.

This was the perfect opportunity. This was the moment Hermione was waiting for all day. She could use this opportunity to find out who the other potential Order members are.

"Me too," Hermione said, "no point in planning for my future if I don't end up having one."

Alice nodded in agreement.

"Do you know who else is thinking of joining?"

Alice thought for a moment before answering.

"Well I know Dorcas is for sure. Lily's talked about it a few times, but I think she's still on the fence. Pretty much everyone at this table plans on joining."

Hermione needed more information than that, she already knew they were planning on joining, but there were at least three more people that were going to join as well.

"It can't just be you guys, right? There have to be more people who want to stand up and fight."

She was so close to having the information she needed. Alice bit her lip and looked off into the distance, trying to think if she knew anyone else who had talked about joining.

"I think Benjy Fenwick, Caradoc Dearborn, and Marlene McKinnon were talking about joining too."

_Benjy, Caradoc, and Marlene. Benjy, Caradoc, and Marlene. _Hermione repeated those names over and over in her mind and cemented them into her mind. Those were the last few names she needed to know in order to give Regulus the information he wanted.

Hopefully, whatever bit of information she was able to gain from sharing this with him would prove to be useful. Now all she had to do was figure out when to talk to him without raising suspicion from the other Gryffindors again.

The sounds of chairs scraping across the wooden floor brought Hermione out of her thoughts.

"We should go check on Sirius, you know how he gets when he's all moody," James said.

Remus rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed with Sirius and whatever was going on between him and Dorcas.

"You realize this is your fault?" Peter said, pointing a finger at James.

James waved his hand in Peters direction as if to dismiss his comment.

Although he usually preferred to keep his thoughts to himself, Remus couldn't help but speak up. "He's right, your silly bet not only hurt Sirius but Dorcas too."

Lily, Alice, and Hermione looked at each other, clearly confused as to what the three boys were talking about. What did James have to do with Dorcas and Sirius both storming off?

Up until now, Lily had remained silent, but when Remus mentioned that it was James' fault for Dorcas abruptly leaving, she stood up. "I should've known you hadn't changed a bit James."

She walked off, leaving a hurt looking James behind. Alice hurried after her while Hermione stood still. She didn't know what to do. While things had been going well between everyone, for the most part, Hermione still wasn't sure if she was on good terms with the other girls. Would they want her to be around when two of them were clearly upset? Would they even want to talk to her about what was going on?

Deciding it was better to let the girls be alone with each other, Hermione chose to stay at the table and waived over one of the barkeeps.

"You just had to say something, didn't you? Things were finally going well between us and-and-"

Before James could finish his sentence, an angry looking Peter stood up from his chair. "Hey! Don't blame us."

"Maybe try apologizing instead of blaming other's for your actions," said Remus.

Neither boy gave James a chance to defend himself as they both stood up and left the pub. The only two left were James and Hermione.

Well, this day didn't go as planned. What Hermione thought would be a day that helped her integrate herself more into their group turned into nothing more than a headache. Dorcas was mad at Sirius who was probably upset with James for getting him into a bad situation. Peter, Remus, and Lily also weren't too happy with James at the moment, and Hermione had no idea what she was supposed to do about all that. Ultimately, it wasn't her problem. At least she had the information she needed.

"I suppose you think this is all my fault too?" James asked, avoiding eye contact with Hermione.

Hermione stood up and gave James a pat on the shoulder. "I don't know but apologizing never hurt."

Hermione could feel James tense up under her hand, and she figured it was from the sudden contact, but when he didn't reply, she looked up at him and followed his gaze. He was staring at the three people that just walked into the pub: Severus, Regulus, and Mulciber.

"Just ignore them, let's go." Hermione tried to pull James away from the table and head out the doors. She really wasn't in the mood for any more conflict.

James seemed to ignore her as he walked up to the three boys. He pulled out his wand as if he was about to attack, but before he could fire any spells, he was already lying flat on his back and holding his cheek in pain.

Hermione ran to his side and tried to help him up, but he brushed her away, refusing her help.

Without realizing it, Severus had silently cast a spell both knocking James down and giving him a long cut on the side of his face. James scrambled to get back up and was met with three wands being pointed directly at him.

"You don't have your usual backup with you today, Potter," said Severus.

"Yeah, I'd leave if I were you," said Mulciber, "unless you want to embarrass yourself more."

Mulciber laughed at James as he put his wand in his pocket and stormed out of the pub. It was clear that Severus wasn't used to besting James as he had a small smirk on his face. The only one not seeming amused by the situation was Regulus. He had a look of boredom on his face as he sat back down and drank a sip of his Butterbeer.

Despite what just happened, it put Hermione in a good situation. She no longer had to think about how she would meet up with Regulus later now that everyone from her original group was gone. She thought she would be stuck with them for the entire day and would have to meet up with him a different day in the library. But the sooner they could exchange information, the better.

Hermione slid into the seat across from Regulus and cleared her throat, trying to get his attention.

Not looking up from his food, he asked, "did you need something?" Clearly, he didn't want to be bothered.

Not having time for his attitude, she pulled his plate away from him and waited for him to look up at her. "Did you want the info or not?"

She quickly glanced in Severus' and Mulciber's direction. "Could we talk somewhere privately?"

"They already know."

Hermione tilted her head in confusion. There was no way he would have told them about their arrangement. Before, he didn't want Snape knowing he was even talking to her.

"Know what?"

Regulus leaned forward onto the table, his face just inches from Hermione's.

"You thought I would trust you with any information?"

Severus and Mulciber, who had been having their own private conversation, decided to join in with Regulus and Hermione now that Regulus revealed they knew about what was going on.

"We don't need some Gryffindor getting into our business," Mulciber said.

Hermione slowly stood up from her chair while she thought about the day's events. First, she had to wake up early to have lunch with people she knew didn't care for her. Then she had to deal with their childish drama because of some silly bet between Sirius and James, and now this. She spent hours with people she never even wanted to talk to just so that she could get information that she was apparently never going to get. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all.

The three Slytherins looked at each other with confused expressions before looking back at her.

When Hermione spoke, her voice was slightly higher than before.

"I spent the better half of today talking to people who I don't even like so that I could get the information you wanted. But that was all a joke I suppose, and you don't really care to know who plans on joining the Order."

Hermione was beyond frustrated. She didn't give any of them time to respond to her, and she turned away from them and headed towards the exit. It looked like she was going to have to figure out another way to find out Voldemort's plans.

"Wait!" Regulus said, standing up to follow after her.

Severus grabbed his arm, stopping him from going after her. "We can't trust her Reg."

He jerked his arm out of Severus' grasp. "There's no harm in getting the info."

At this point, Hermione had turned back around. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she impatiently waited to make their decision on if they were going to talk to her or not.

"I don't have all day."

Regulus looked at Severus and then at Mulciber. He needed to make a final decision on if he should listen to her, but neither Severus nor Mulciber said anything. It was up to him to decide.

"Fine. What are the names?"

Hermione smiled and walked back over to their table. She sat down in front of Regulus and repeated back everything Alice told her.

They sat there for a moment in uncomfortable silence. She wasn't sure what to expect next but sitting here staring at each other wasn't part of her plan.

Finally, Severus broke the silence. "She's not lying."

"How did you-?"

_Legilimency._

She would need to be careful around him. The only thing she currently had on her side was that she genuinely was annoyed at how her day had gone, so she hadn't lied to them. Yet.

Regulus smiled as if everything turned out exactly how he wanted it to. "Tell you what, you help us with a potion and I'll-"

"That wasn't part of the deal."

"You do this, and I'll personally tell the Dark Lord how much of a help you've been. He'll definitely be interested in you."

She had to think for a moment. Could she trust them? No, of course not. But did she have a choice? The answer again, was no.

She took a deep break and shook her head before replying. "Fine, what kind of potion?"

"A poison."


	7. Papercut

**A/N: **Thank you for all the reviews so far! I really appreciate them.

* * *

**September 18, 1977 (Sunday)**

She woke up earlier than the others, and not ready to get up quite yet, lay in bed, thinking about the previous day's events.

Her thoughts went back to just after she arrived in the common room. Since it was late in the day, she thought the common room would be full of people. Instead, it seemed most people hadn't returned yet or went to bed early.

Looking around the room, she saw Lily and Alice sitting on one of the smaller couches in silence, while Remus and Peter had started yet another game of Exploding Snap. They were the only two that hadn't been terribly affected by the day's events. Sirius, James, and Dorcas where nowhere to be found. They were probably off brooding somewhere about whatever it was that James did.

A few others were sitting at a table working on homework. Not wanting to intrude on the silence it seemed that Lily and Alice were enjoying, she decided to make her way to the girls' dormitory and relax while she thought of what her next move ought to be. She still hadn't gotten any information about Voldemort, and now she had to help out with some potion. Hopefully, It would all be worth it.

The sound of snoring broke her out of her memory, and she decided she needed to get ready to meet Regulus in the potion's classroom.

She quietly made her way out of the room, doing her best not to wake anyone up. It wouldn't be good if someone asked her where she was going. After being seen at the Slytherin's table and dealing with the other Gryffindor's negative attitude towards her, she didn't want to be caught meeting with Regulus.

As she made her way to the classroom, she wondered why they needed her to help to make a poison for? Was it related to Voldemort? If it was, what was he planning on doing with it? Was this just another test of her loyalty to them?

Maybe she'd be able to figure it out while they worked on it together.

Hermione took a deep breath before walking into the dimly-lit room and let go of any hesitation she was feeling about the whole situation. She looked around the room for Regulus, and at first, saw no one. Was she too early? He made it pretty clear to meet her there before too many people would be getting up for breakfast.

Walking more into the classroom, she saw a single cauldron set up with a few potion ingredients next to it.

_Ok, so someone was here, _she thought, _but where are they now?_

Hermione glanced around the room one last time before deciding to leave. As she approached the door, she heard the faint sound of footsteps behind her.

"You actually showed up."

Hermione jumped at the sound of the voice and quickly turned around. She could feel her heartbeat speed up at the sudden noise and placed a hand over her chest, trying to catch her breath. As she calmed down and looked up, she was surprised to see Severus. Wasn't she helping Regulus with the potion?

"Wasn't I supposed to meet Regulus?"

He brushed past Hermione, ignoring her question. It was clear that he didn't want her there any more than she wanted to be there. He began working on the potion and writing down notes as he went along. Hermione, confused on what to do, sat in a nearby chair and watched him work on the potion. It seemed like he didn't need her help. He would end up being a potions master one day, so it made sense.

From her seat, she could see that the inside of the cauldron contained a dark-blue liquid. It smelled slightly of peppermint and week-old garbage. She couldn't think of potion she had come across in the future that looked or smelled anything like it. Wanting to know more about what the potion was for and also feeling antsy from sitting in complete silence, she thought she would try and get some information from him.

"So, what's the potion for?"

Severus looked over at her briefly before grabbing a pinch of a white powder and sprinkled it into the cauldron. A puff of blue smoke appeared, and they both coughed as they waved the smoke away.

"Can't tell you."

Feeling frustrated at his answer, the thought up another question, trying not to let her annoyance show.

"What kind of poison does it need to be?"

"Can't tell you that either."

There had to be something he could tell her about it.

"Enough to kill someone or just slow them down?"

This time he didn't respond. He just looked at her, clearly annoyed by her questions, and went back to adding various ingredients to the cauldron.

Realizing he wasn't prepared to reveal any information about the potion, Hermione thought about leaving and coming up with a new plan to get the information she needed. There had to be another way besides sitting here and watching him do a potion he had no intention of talking about with her.

After a few moments had passed with no new ideas, she heard him let out a sigh of frustration and watched him ball up his notes and throw them across the room. Severus picked up the potion, ready to dump it out and start a new batch.

"Maybe if you tell me what you're working on I could help?"

Severus continued to ignore her as he dumped the remaining potion out and began cleaning the cauldron.

Tired of being ignored, Hermione got up from her seat and walked towards him. She grabbed the cauldron from him, set it on the table, and grabbed his arm, so he was forced to look at her.

Surprised by her sudden actions, Severus hadn't tried to escape from her grip and merely stared at her, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"How am I supposed to help if you can't tell me anything?"

She let his arm go and began pacing around the room.

"I-I befriended that annoying group of friends, gave Regulus the information he asked for, showed up hear prepared to help with the potion only to get nothing in return."

Hermione didn't mean everything she said. Spending time with Lily, Dorcas, and Alice was actually fun until all the childish drama started, but Severus didn't need to know that.

She turned back around to face Severus, before slowly approaching him.

"Do you think I want to deal with your awful, condescending attitude? Do you think this is fun for me?"

His eyes shifted around, looking at everything in the room but Hermione. Clearly, he was at a loss for words.

"Obviously you need help with this potion, so you can either accept that or fail at brewing it. Again."

She looked at him expectedly, waiting for him to say something, anything.

"Fine," Severus said, "but I'll only tell you what you need to know. Nothing more."

Hermione smirked to herself, pleased that her little outburst of frustration proved to be beneficial. "Fine by me."

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying out different combinations of ingredients to create a poison that would slowly kill the victim yet also cause mild hallucinations.

Apparently, it wasn't enough for someone to die, the Dark Lord wanted to make sure they also suffered.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Hermione could tell Severus was grateful for her help. She even once thought she heard him mutter 'thank you.'

One thing that had been bothering her was how they were going to test out the potion. It's not like they could walk up to someone and say, 'hey drink this potion that will cause you to hallucinate and eventually kill you.'

Hermione gestured to the cauldron and asked, "how are we testing this out?"

Severus raised an eyebrow at her question and began tapping the table. Maybe he didn't know either.

"The Dark Lord has his ways."

With a smirk on her face, Hermione looked up at Severus. "Maybe you should try it out," she said, "we wouldn't want to disappoint the Dark Lord."

Severus smirked at her comment and continued writing down notes about the potion. "Or maybe I should slip it into your morning tea."

After another hour of trial and error, Hermione and Severus decided to call it a day.

Severus finished cleaning out the cauldron while Hermione secretly copied down the notes he had been taking. While working on the potion, she thought creating an antidote might be useful.

She slipped the small bit of parchment in her school bag before Severus walked back over towards her. "I guess you were more helpful than I first thought."

"And I guess that was a compliment."

He grabbed his own bag off the floor and started heading out of the classroom. "Make sure you wait a few moments after I leave before you head out."

Hermione nodded her head and stood there, waiting until she felt enough time had passed. As she headed out of the classroom, she bumped into a familiar face.

"Hey, where have you been all day?" Remus asked.

_Oh, I just spent the better half of the day working with Severus on a potion that will kill anyone that tries to steal an item that's important to the Dark Lord._

"Just working on homework in the library. I'm feeling a little behind in some classes."

Remus gave her an odd look, that told her he didn't completely buy what she was saying.

"I'm surprised I didn't see you then. I just came from there."

"Oh, I like to sit in a little corner away from everyone."

He raised an eyebrow at her clearly not believing a word she said, but let it go anyways.

"Ok, well Lily and Alice were looking for you. Dorcas finally came back, but then you went missing, and they were freaking out about it."

While Remus was talking, Hermione had other thoughts going through her mind.

_Had Remus seen her walking out of the potion's classroom? Or even worse, did he see Severus walk out just before she did? If he did, would he tell the others?_

She had to stop herself from overthinking before she had a panic attack in the middle of the hallway.

Hermione forced a smile at Remus, trying to calm herself down. "I'll make sure to let them know I'm fine."

Needing some time to herself before meeting up with the others, she didn't wait for Remus to respond before walking away. Hermione decided to actually go to the library and enjoy some much-needed peace and quiet. She also needed time to think about what she had to do next.

* * *

Hermione had been sitting in her favorite part of the library, a part hidden from most people where she could enjoy time to herself and think about if what she was doing was even worth it.

For the last hour, she had done nothing but stare at a blank piece of parchment paper trying to figure out when or how she could use the knowledge of the potion she had been working on for the Dark Lord to prevent the deaths of innocent people.

Not paying attention to the sound of footsteps approaching her, she slightly jumped at the sound of the voice behind her. It seemed like people were continually catching her off guard today.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you," said Remus as he walked to the other side of the table to face Hermione.

Hermione gestured towards the chair in front of him. "You can sit there if you want."

Remus set his bag on the floor and sat in the seat directly in front of Hermione. "So this the little corner you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah, this is my escape from everyone. I just wanted to be alone for a little bit."

"I can go if you-"

Hermione shook her head and gave him a small smile. "No, no, it's fine."

Actually, there was something she was wondering about and now would be an excellent time to get an answer.

She needed to know if he saw her with Severus earlier.

"Hermione, were you with Severus all day?"

Well, that answered her question.

Feeling flustered, Hermione tried coming up with a reason why she was with him. There would be no point in lying about it at this point. "He just wanted my help with that potions project, and I really don't want to cause any more issues since I feel like I'm finally starting to be on decent terms with everyone again and I-"

Noticing her getting flustered over trying to explain herself, he let out a laugh, not being able to hold it in.

"Don't worry about it. It'll be our secret."

She nodded her thanks before going back to staring at the blank sheet of parchment in front of her.

After a few minutes had passed, she looked up and saw that he had pulled out something to work on as well. It was kind of nice being able to enjoy someone's company for once while she sat there. She looked back down at her blank sheet, still rummaging her brain for any sort of plan.

Hermione let out a sigh of frustration and sat back in her chair while tapping her quill and against the table. She noticed that Remus had been looking at her and realized she probably seemed crazy.

Remus looked at her as if he wanted to ask something but wasn't sure if he should.

He tilted his head to the side and tapped his quill to his chin. "If you don't mind me asking why the sudden interest in making friends?"

His question caught her completely off guard. She wasn't sure how to answer it. It's not like she could tell the truth.

"Having to leave my old friends behind made me not want to get attached to anyone. But I guess now I realize having some friends wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Part of that was true, it just wasn't the complete truth.

He looked at her as if he understood how she felt. She wondered if it had anything to do with him being a werewolf. She knew that before he arrived at Hogwarts, his family moved around, and he wasn't able to make friends.

Remus "I know what it's like to not want to get close to anyone, but from my experience, it's way better than being alone."

Not knowing what to say, she simply nodded her head in agreement.

For a few more moments, they sat in silence, going back to what they were working on before he asked his question.

Hearing her stomach growl, Hermione realized she hadn't eaten yet today.

Remus began packing up his things and leaned against the table while Hermione finished putting her things away. "Come on, let's get dinner," he said, "it's getting late."

* * *

"There you are Hermione!" Lily said, waving at Hermione to sit beside her.

"First Dorcas, then you!" Alice said, her mouth full of bread.

Hermione took a seat beside Lily and began filling her own plate with food.

Remus sat on the other side of the table beside Peter and asked where Sirius and James were.

"Probably off somewhere causing trouble," Dorcas muttered.

It was clear that Dorcas was still upset over whatever Sirius said, but she wasn't willing to talk about it.

The rest of dinner was rushed and eaten in silence before they all headed back to the common room.

The girls waved their goodbyes to Remus and Peter before going up to their dorm.

Alice kicked off her shoes and hopped on Dorcas' bed while Hermione and Lily sat on the bed across from her. "Now that we're finally alone, what happened the other day with Sirius?" Alice asked.

Dorcas took a deep breath, contemplating if she wanted to discuss her Sirius problems. She lay on the bed next to Alice and looked up at the ceiling.

"He said he wanted to get back together and when I asked him what made him say that, he said it was some bet he had with James," she said.

She got up from the bed and began pacing around the small room. "I mean, can I take that seriously? You both know how long it took me to get over him and for him to say something like that just really pissed me off."

Lily was the first to respond. "Do you think he meant it?"

Before Dorcas could answer, Alice asked her own question. "Do you want to get back together with him?"

"No. I don't know. Even if he was serious, which I highly doubt, I don't want to be with someone who confesses their feelings because of a bet."

"What did you say to him?" Alice asked.

"I told him that he was a bigger idiot than I thought if he ever thought I would take him back."

Lily nodded her head in agreement, approving of what Dorcas said. "It's probably for the best, I mean he did cheat on you."

Dorcas threw her hand up in the air and plopped back down on the bed. She held a pillow over her chest and shook her head back and forth as if trying to remove the bad memory from her mind. "And he still denies it even though I walked in on them.

Lily moved over to Dorcas' bed and gently rubbed her arm. "I can't believe James would actually have him do that especially knowing what Sirius did."

While the other two girls were trying to comfort Dorcas, Hermione did her best not to show how surprised she was at finding out Sirius cheated on Dorcas. She never thought he would be one to do something like that. He always seemed to loyal and honest in her time, that she never would have imagined him doing such a thing.

Lily laid back on the bed and closed her eyes. She covered her face with both hands and let out an exasperated sigh. "And to think, I was starting to think he had grown up a little."

Alice patted Lily on the head, trying to ease her. "It was probably James' way of embarrassing Sirius, and he just didn't think about how it would affect other people."

"Let's not waste any more time thinking about those boys," Dorcas said.

"Agreed, we have an early start tomorrow," Lily said.

Hermione and the others went to their respective beds and changed into their pajamas. She lay in bed, trying to force her mind to calm down. The day had been an interesting one, and she was hoping, more than anything, that she was getting closer to stopping _him_.


End file.
